They arrived in Oreburgh at high afternoon.
Justyna's newly acquired riolu jumped from her arms but she just picked him up again, Kisa and Paul were worried. They walked through the rocky city's rocky streets, stopping at a Pokemart to buy some Supa Potions and more pokeballs. They went to the Pokemon Center, routine habits don't die. The Nurse Joy healed their pokemon and recommended a bath for Riley. The riolu was still dark with mysterious ash. They were directed to a hot spring in town. Water flowed from rocks, and Oreburgh was rocky as Anna's mind was skewed. Justyna had conveniently brought her one-piece black swimsuit with her. Dawn and Anna spent an hour looking through the local store for some. By sheer coincidence, they both bought a blue and dark blue two piece swimsuit.
"It isn't that expensive." Anna's reason.
"It looks foreboding." Dawn's reason.
The pokemon got their own little pool. Riceball and Psyduck were having a splash fight which soon included Shinx and Kisa. Makowca lay calmly at the edge of the pool but joined in later and Staravia floated on the water like a duck. Paul wandered off because of the exhausting heat.
Anna and Dawn came to the pool after changing into their swimsuits to find Justyna and a struggling Riley in murky water.
"He was really dirty." Justyna said, scrubbing her pokemon with Dove.
Dawn and Anna found a different pool.
The springs were part of a spa part of a hotel. Justyna paid for rooms for each of them and after long hours of soaking, they got out and went to bed.
The next morning, Anna woke up at noon. Her pokemon had woke up and went across the hall to Justyna's room, which was significantly bigger, to play with her pokemon. But Justyna was GONE. Dawn and Paul were missing too.
Anna grabbed some breakfast and quickly called her friends. She vaguely imagined Justyna running around looking for her and Dawn, if they were in each other's positions. Justyna was out looking at the pretty rocks Oreburgh had to sell. What else? Dawn had discovered the Museum and they agreed to meet there.
An hour later they all met at the Museum. It displayed rocks. Justyna's sarcasm went to view the outside exhibit. Anna and Kisa followed Dawn around the Museum. She and Paul were very interested in rocks. Especially the big block of coal displayed as a centerpiece.
"What do you suppose would happen if that fell on someone?" Anna wondered aloud.
"People would die." Dawn replied. Paul spun happily at the dark emo humor.
At the back of the Museum they met a strange man with dorky glasses and a lab coat. He talked very fast and with aggressiveness. It was as if Justyna had not left. He was talking to a group of little kids about fossils. But they were asking too many questions and he shouted and they ran off and would later return with angry mothers. Dawn and Anna overheard most of it and could not avoid being spotted by the man. Paul hid behind Dawn and Kisa jumped behind Anna. He came over and started talking very excitedly and almost nothing was intelligible. Anna and Dawn stood and said nothing, as if he might not notice they existed and soon stop talking to air and leave. He didn't and kept talking until he realized something and shooed Anna and Dawn away; they understood that he said the words 'no fossils.'
"Let's go find Justyna." Anna suggested, a little creeped out.
"That's probably a good idea." Dawn said.
Justyna was gone once again. They were about to make a round of the shops when Justyna ran up to them. Her riolu was with her, now walking semi-calmly beside her.
"Dude!...huffpuff…there's a coal mine in town!" she pointed somewhere behind her.
"Didn't you say you didn't like rocks?" Dawn inquired.
"There's all these rock pokemon there!" she said after a quick recovery, "It's an awesome place to train! Plus you can dig for stuff!"
"What kind of stuff?" Anna asked.
"I don't know but we have to get some!"
As if they had a choice. Anna and Dawn followed Justyna and lil' Riley to the coal mine. Along the way they passed a big fancy house, made of a nice pure rock. They were almost around the corner when they realized that Paul was missing. Then Justyna realized Riley was gone too.
The two mentioned were staring at the fancy house. Riley glowed slightly blue with angry aura.
"Shuppet." Paul told him wisely.
The little riolu stopped his glowing and sat down in a slump. He put his paws over his eyes to cry as Paul floated to him comfortingly. Riley was then suddenly scooped up by fast but gentle hands.
"There you are!" Justyna laughed. She hugged him a little more gently this time and threw him up in the air playfully, only to catch him again. The startled riolu was put on the ground and continued to follow his new trainer with an aura Paul sensed to be 94 to the 54 power happier. As they walked away, Paul looked back and went, " Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhp," a shuppet raspberry at the house.
The coal mine's entrance was very rocky.
Inside they were given cool miners' hats. Justyna released Riceball to join Riley and Anna set out her Psyduck to help Kisa. They marched through the cave, examining the walks for stuff to take. Riceball uncovered a pretty glowing stone, that later turned out to be a moonstone. Dawn discovered zubats but thanks to Paul, was only mentally scarred. Justyna and Riley quickly caught one zubat and used the Pokecatch, and then later they literally stumbled upon a geodude and caught it as well. Riley was a young pokemon but knew some good moves like Force Palm and Aura Sphere.
"I once read that riolu can only learn that through breeding." Dawn said, "It must be of a high pedigree."
"You know pedigree sounds almost like pedicure." Justyna quickly replied.
Anna, Dawn and their pokemon were like WTF?
They got to the main part of the cave where the mine's actual workers were. Dawn and Paul eagerly examined the huge block of coal in the middle of the room.
"Rocks fall…" Anna whispered to herself. Kisa nodded gravely. Paul flinched.
"GUYS!" Justyna called from across the cave. Anna and Dawn reluctantly went over. Justyna was talking with a worker, or so it seemed.
"Dude! This town has a Gym!"
"No shmoople" Anna said.
"Yeah! And this guy's the leader! You're Roark right?"
"Yes. That I am." He said sheepishly.
He was very nice. He showed Dawn and Paul the finer parts of the coal block. Which is weird cause to me, every coal piece looks the same. They got to the topic of a Gym battle and the discussion of Anna and Justyna's dual entry.
"I would gladly, battle you in a double battle." Roark said, "Just come by the Gym."
Justyna was psyched. And Riley seemed to have developed a happy dance of his own.
Roark soon left, as he said he needed to tend to his rock gardens at the Gym, so Anna and Justyna decided to train a little. With their water, fight, and grass type pokemon, it was like going through a video game with a bunch of cheat codes. As their pokemon began to near exhaustion, which took a while given their advantages, they decided to go back to their hotel. It took a while to pull Dawn and Paul away from the coal block.
They were about to exit the coal block room when a sudden pulse shook the cave. Paul looked somewhere off it the distance, and Riley followed his gaze. Before their trainers noticed it, a hoard of onix crashed through the wall that Riley and Paul had been staring at. Most of the workers fled to the other side of the room. Anna and company were about to join them when suddenly, one of the onix bashed itself against the coal block. Dawn gasped a gasp of true concern and Paul had a jaw drop moment. The workers on the other side started to get frantic.
"They're attacking the coal!"
Justyna jumped to the front of the group and exclaimed, pointing at the onix, "Go! Riceball! Use Splash attack! Oh wait, you don't know Splash. Okay, use Bubble Attack!"
Riceball fired a huge array of bubbles at the onix. Justyna cheered and ordered Riley to attack as well.
"Be logical! You're pokemon are exhausted!' Dawn called but went unheard.
Anna quickly stepped up to help Justyna with Kisa and Psyduck. Kisa sent the biggest Razor Leaf she could manage and Psyduck used Water Gun. Most of the onix recoiled and slithered out the way they came, but one of them was abnormally big and almost unphased by the attacks. It swept its tail across the floor and knocked Riley away. Riceball jumped up like it was a game of helicopter. Kisa and Psyduck were too far away to get hit, but immediately ran up to help. Psyduck fought his constant headache and helped Riley up while Kisa stood with Riceball to attack again. The onix threw its head around in rage and attacked the coal again. The workers were freaking out.
"Where's Roark?"
"All of you be quiet! We got this!" Justyna shouted back aggressively.
Riley and Psyduck were blown away by another tail sweep. Kisa and Riceball stood like two gladiators, and the onix was the emperor who was like, 'just die already!'
As they were preparing for another attack, Riceball started to glow white. Justyna started her happy dance early and continued even when Riceball was knocked away by another tail sweep, fore she landed as a prinpulp. She stood up triumphantly.
Riceball ran and jumped and attacked the onix with Metal Claw. Kisa followed it up with a powerful Tackle Attack. The onix began to withdraw and Justyna quickly whipped out a duskball and threw it at the onix. It was successfully caught. Riceball and Kisa collapsed from exhaustion.
The workers apologized for their pessimistic behavior and helped carry Riceball to the pokemon center. It was too tired to get back in its pokeball; Anna was lucky to have a smaller pokemon. With their pokemon healed but still exhausted, they went back to their hotel and ordered very fancy room service.
That night, they dreamed of carving their onix.